We are approaching the end of World Vision's operational year, and it's time to run the last of the programmes and wrap things up before the New Year begins. A couple of days ago I was asked to help out with the Good News Clubs training, a three day workshop for the teachers and children running Good News Clubs in their schools, by supporting the facilitators to make sure it was child friendly and engaging for the 80+ children that would be attending. The Good News Clubs are basically clubs to nurture children's spirituality and their faith, and although the title was originally for Christian cubs, they are now expanded here for children of all faiths and religions.

It was a fantastic event, and to be honest there wasn't much need for my creative input, over half of the time was spent singing and dancing, which the children here absolutely love! Because religion is such a huge part of people's lives here where many people literally live their religion every day, spiritual nurture is considered as a very important part of a child's life. Learning about their faith and the history of their religion gives many children a sense of belonging, and probably helps them to understand what on earth their parents are going on about when they quote the bible or Qu'ran! I have found that the children here have a really strong set of values from a very young age, often developed through their religion.

So to be honest, I was learning as much as supporting, as I sat through sessions on children's prayer, methods of leading children to Christ, and an exhortation to bible club teachers. The facilitators were Pastor Moses, and Merci a teacher who is clearly very committed to her religion, and who was especially good at singing all the songs, and attempting to get me to too!

Even though I've still not been persuaded to start attending church regularly, despite many people's persistent attempts (!), I have learnt so much about religion and how it influences life here simply just from living here and volunteering with World Vision. It's given me a different way of looking at the world, and has certainly given me a new perspective on religion in Africa. People here can change as easily from Muslim to Christian or vice versa as we change from one old car to a new one, and often you can find Christians, Muslims and Traditionalists all in one family home. It's taken me a while to understand, but the nicest thing is that the Ghanaians believe in one God, no matter what religion people are, and all live peacefully under one big blue sky.

With love from Ghana,

Em

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